Business schools are increasingly expected to demonstrate not only the quality of their teaching and research, but also the difference they make to their communities, economies, industries and societies.

When UC Business School became the first in New Zealand to receive the Business School Impact System (BSIS) label in 2023, it was more than a recognition milestone; it was an invitation to examine our contribution in a more structured, evidence-informed way. The process pushed us to move beyond individual stories of engagement and ask a harder question: what do our activities collectively add up to?

Looking at impact as a system

One of the most valuable aspects of the BSIS process is that it encourages business schools to think about impact as a system. Schools often have many compelling examples of engagement: student projects with organisations, research that informs practice, alumni contributing to their professions, entrepreneurial startup activities, executive education and short courses, public events, and partnerships with business, government and community groups.

For Te Kura Umanga | UC Business School, located in Ōtautahi Christchurch, this wider perspective was particularly valuable. We operate in a city shaped by recovery, renewal and innovation, and one where the connections between education, industry and community are especially visible. BSIS gave us a framework for articulating how our teaching, research, engagement and partnerships contribute to that wider ecosystem.

Moving from stories to evidence

Impact is often easy to describe but harder to evidence. Most business schools can point to powerful stories of successful graduates, meaningful partnerships, research engagement or community contribution. These stories are important, but they become more persuasive when supported by robust evidence and thoughtful analysis.

The BSIS process helped the UC Business School bring together evidence that was sometimes dispersed across different parts of the School and University. It encouraged consideration of quantitative indicators, stakeholder perspectives, examples of engagement, and areas of distinctiveness. Just as importantly, it prompted reflection on what was not yet being measured clearly enough and what was often being taken for granted as “business-as-usual”.

This was one of the most useful aspects of the experience. BSIS was not simply a recognition or counting exercise; it was a learning process that prompted us to ask: who benefits from the School’s work, how they benefit, and how that contribution can be better understood over time?

Strengthening strategic conversations

The process also supported strategic reflection. Impact is now central to how many business schools describe their purpose, but it can become broad and abstract if it is not connected to evidence, priorities and action. Put another way, impact is easy to write into a mission statement but much harder to articulate and measure. BSIS helped us to make impact more concrete.

For the UC Business School, this has been useful in thinking about student employability, research engagement, entrepreneurship, sustainability, internationalisation, and partnerships. Reflecting our position in Aotearoa New Zealand, UC is a committed bicultural university operating in an intercultural world. This means acknowledging the role of, and partnership with, Tangata Whenua (the indigenous Māori or ‘people of the land’), while also working to embed bicultural perspectives across learning, teaching and research.

Benefits beyond the label

Receiving the BSIS label was an important milestone but the longer-term value lies less in the label itself and more in the habits of thinking it encourages. The process reinforced the importance of being systematic about impact and highlighted the value of stakeholder voice. Impact is not something a school can define on its own. Instead, it is shaped through relationships with students, graduates, employers, partners, communities and the wider society a school serves.

There is also value in the discipline of periodic reflection. The needs of regions, industries and societies continue to change. A structured impact framework helps business schools revisit their assumptions and consider whether their activities remain relevant, distinctive and meaningful.

Lessons for other schools

For schools considering BSIS, one lesson is to approach the process with openness. It is natural to see impact assessment as an opportunity to showcase strengths, and that is part of the value. However, the greatest benefit comes when the process is treated as an opportunity for honest reflection about what you might not yet fully understand.

A second lesson is that impact should not sit at the margins of a business school. It should connect to teaching, research, engagement, strategy and culture. When impact is treated only as a reporting task, it risks becoming performative. When integrated into decision-making, it becomes a way to strengthen a school’s contribution over time.

Most importantly, BSIS reinforced a simple but important idea: business schools should not only claim impact. Instead, they should understand it, evidence it, communicate it, and keep working to improve it. For the UC Business School, BSIS has been a genuinely useful step in that ongoing journey.

For additional insights, announcements and perspectives on the BSIS review process, please visit the conversation on the EFMD Business School Impact System (BSIS).